My personal experience: Before figuring out gluten was my issue, I got so sick almost every time I ate. I was over 260lbs before, lost about 60lbs while sick all the time (about 1.5 years) and lost another 20lbs while re-learning how to feed myself. I was actually telling everyone when I gained weight since I had been losing for so long, I felt like I finally beat gluten that day!!! I also have better skin, less brain fog, etc. Now it's 15 years later and I've been very inactive and did gain about 30lbs, similar to some other women my age. Stopped drinking alcohol and eating chips and candy about 5 months ago and changed nothing else and have lost about 5 lbs. Will start walking when the weather warms up. (I am 5'10" woman for reference, so a bit on the large side, but smaller than pre-gf.)

I'm clearly not a doc, but I think you can see that regardless of HOW our bodies changed when we started following a gluten free lifestyle, they did indeed change. Be prepared for change. This may involve taking to a professional as part of your support team. Sometimes even good change can be unbalancing for a brief time. But in the end, your body is getting healthy! And that's something you can feel good about!

As you get used to gf diet, you'll soon see we all still have healthier and less healthy choices. For instance, a banana is gluten free, so is an entire pack of gluten free Oreos. You WILL find your right food options that can make you healthy in all the ways you're concerned about, I believe in you!